I understand, and I appreciate your explanation. It is what they tell us subs, though, which points to why subbing is such a hard job that many reasonable people end up not wanting to do.

I've still seen even respected high school teachers put a hand on an arm or tap a shoulder though to get a student's attention. I'm just saying that forbidding any touch whatsoever is just impossible. Inappropriate touch is the key.

I can believe it. Trust me, I fall at the feet of the good teachers. They are amazing. But there are too many who seem to have just cruised through. The lack of any intellectual curiosity whatsoever for some gets me too.

Here's the thing. You can't actually avoid touching students in some situations though, especially the youngsters. When I sub at the early childhood center, kids sit on my lap and we change their diapers/potty assist. We guide their hands to do certain skills. Elementary age, you gotta help them with their…

I am a writer-editor (I went to grad school for it, freelance regularly), and I sub to make ends meet right now. I've had to stop doing English classes unless I already know the teacher is a good one — because it drives me effing bonkers. A couple weeks ago I was in an ESL class and the teacher had left this sentence…

This is unfortunately true. And some states (like mine) stopped allowing recently retired teachers to sub because of pension issues. So they knocked the most qualified folks out of the pool.

Yeah, be nice. Some of us live in the hinterland.

My cousin just had this argument with me when I posted something about pink slime. He wants his cheap pink slime fast food! The big government just wants to destroy something he loves (just by labeling it, actually)! The companies would never sell something harmful! They want to keep customers, and they'd go out of…

This exactly. I LOVE to cook. I love healthy food. I do. But when I've had an awful, long day, even when the foods are ready in the fridge, I'm still going to grab the freezer meal. I don't have the energy to eat through the bag of carrots and cucumbers, and I need the comfort of the lasagna to fill the hole in my…

Two things: Nutrition science is still basically a crapshoot, so say many people who are renowned for having it as their career. See Michael Pollan's extensive coverage of this topic. So the fact that we don't have evidence to say GMOs aren't harmful right now is not comforting. They are still new technology. See…

I very much agree. Kids don't have the maturity to watch siblings for more than a few minutes, and they should allowed to have childhoods too.

I can see this happening. In the country, even if it's not ideal, I don't think it's odd that we might step into the house to pee fast or something and 99% of the time the kid would be right there when we return. I've done it plenty of times, watching/listening from the windows as much as possible. If you live in a…

I pledge this as well. Even if I can't make it to a theater, I'll be Netflixing and buying.

I would buy too! Seriously.

Sure would. My niece has the $20 version of the Anna dress, and we've fixed it several times already. Really shoddy. I live in the boondocks where we do have Frozen merch available, but the Elsa dress is not even that cute so we're making one. I found much better fabrics, and I got the Brave pattern at Goodwill for 99…

I like your mom! Mine would have said the opposite.

This is my brother-in-law exactly. You nailed it.

Ha. It's a shame.

The act of hitting a child on the butt with an open hand does creates a fear response. People with a lot more expertise than me have determined this, and there is agreement across several fields of study. That fear response has a negative impact on neurobiological development which is linked to the many consequences…

You were defending this bus driver's actions. I disagree with you on this subject, and that won't change.